Lovettsville Historical Society and Museum

12/08/2025

Our December 2025 newsletter is now available. For previous issues, see the archive links toward the end of this issue.

10/06/2025

LHS Lecture, Sunday, Oct. 12: “Virginia's 1774 Summer of Discontent and the Coming of the Revolution” with Jim Bish, who will reveal the importance of the many local Resolves that were produced in the summer of 1774 in Virginia. The local commitment against the actions of England which emerged during 1774, became paramount in the later success of the Revolution.
Local residents reacted strongly to the pending abolition of their rights by the British. This democratic action was the first step to declaring independence two years later. In doing so, the county freeholders and inhabitants bought into the upcoming struggle, while producing a purely democratic set of documents which show a united clarity of purpose. Their collective local actions and their statements, county by county, have rarely been duplicated, previously or since. Virginia and Maryland produced the most comprehensive set of Resolves compared to anywhere in the colonies leading up to the Revolutionary War. These Resolves fortified their commitment to the ever-strengthening common cause of America. The lecture will be held Sunday, October 12, 2025, at 2:00 p.m., at St. James United Church of Christ, 10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville.

06/06/2025

Join a July 4th Public Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Lovettsville

What: 6th Annual Public Declaration of Independence Reading sponsored by the ​ Lovettsville Historical Society

When: Friday, July 4th at 10:00 a.m.

Where: 10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville– St. James United Church of Christ

Contact: Lovettsville Historical Society at [email protected]

We all know the Declaration of Independence—or do we?

The Lovettsville Historical Society continues our tradition of a public reading of the Declaration so all can hear it and ponder its message, its pledge, its inspiration, and how far we yet need to reach out to meet its ideals.

Our founding document will be read with seven local readers placed around the historic St. James Church and balcony—one reader, of course, reading in German because we’re the “German Settlement”! The 1901 church’s special acoustics make for a wonderful antiphonal reading that will give you a memorable experience. There will be an opportunity for audience participation as well. Those attending will then have a chance to sign a large copy of the Declaration with the original signers, reasserting our hopes and beliefs, whatever our current shortfalls may be. Then we will ring the church bell in celebration!

Join us where the Lovettsville Historical Society presents its monthlySecond Sunday Lecture Series at St. James United Church of Christ, 10 E. Broadway in Lovettsville at 10:00 a.m. Then you can adjourn around the corner for coffee or lunch.

06/05/2025

Next in the Lovettsville Historical Society's 2025 Lecture Series:

"Tariffs, a Stolen Election, and Elitism: The Politics of Loudoun County in the 1820s," presented by Sharon Virts.

Sunday, June 8, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
St. James United Church of Christ,
10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville VA

After the War of 1812, the port embargo was lifted, and American markets were reopened to the British. British trading companies began flooding the new republic with cheap goods, decimating American industries in the North.

Struggling to pay its war debt, Congress submitted to Northern demands for a tariff to equalize trade. This action set the stage for great political transformation, not only nationally, but specifically in Loudoun County.

Sharon Virts delves into the economic and political landscape, and the events that further drove the divide between the conservatives in Leesburg and Eastern Loudoun and the liberal-minded freeholders in Western Loudoun. From tariffs and two financial panics to a devasting influenza outbreak and a contentious presidential election, Sharon will talk about just how similar the conditions of the 1820s were to the political environment today.

Best-selling author Sharon Virts is Loudoun native, who grew up captivated by tales of the past—stories of forgotten lives, buried truths, and long-hidden mysteries. She has written three novels—Masque of Honor (2021), Veil of Doubt (2023), and The Grays of Truth (2024). Veil of Doubt was named a finalist for Best Historical Fiction by both the American Book Fest’s 2024 Best Book Awards and the IAN Book of the Year Awards in the Historical Fiction, Pre-20th Century category.

Her contributions to the arts, preservation, and community service have earned her recognition as one of Washington Life Magazine’s Philanthropic 50 of 2020 and a 2024 Loudoun History Award honoree. Sharon lives with her husband Scott Miller at Selma Mansion in Lucketts, a historic estate they rescued from demolition and lovingly restored.

05/03/2025

Our May 2025 Newsletter is now available:

04/20/2025

Today is the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, marking the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Nancy Spannaus, today's Museum docent, put together a display for this day, with a sign outside noting that the Revolutionary War had begun 250 years ago today, and inviting people inside to see how the German Settlement responded. Inside was a display compiled by her husband Ed, showing a listing of known Revolutionary War soldier from the German Settlement -- as the local area was known before the creation of the town of Lovettsville. The listing contains 26 names of soldiers who were either in the Continental Line or state militias in PA, MD, or VA., and whose service can be documented. There are undoubtedly many more, still to be found.

04/03/2025

“Two Lights for Tomorrow.” The nationwide initiative Two Lights for Tomorrow commemorates the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous ride occurring overnight on Friday April 18 –Saturday April 19, 1775. The idea originated from a multi-state collaboration at A Common Cause to All 250 conference in Williamsburg and uses the imagery of those two shining lights 250 years ago as a uniting call to remind ourselves that our history is about working together for a better tomorrow.

The basic idea is for government buildings, public institutions, private homes to come together by putting two lights in their windows where the public can see as part of our commemoration of the 250th birthday of the United States of America.

The Loudoun VA250 Committee endorses the two lights effort and hope many of our historic sites, public buildings, and private building will participate. Grab your lanterns Friday night April 18 and find that special window! Although Paul Revere’s assistants only kept their two lanterns in the steeple of Boston’s Old North Church for about a minute lest they be discovered, it was enough. Revere saw them and was on the way with the official warning to alert his fellow countrymen. You can keep yours up until Saturday morning as we remember the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution.

03/04/2025

“The Search for Mosby's Cave”

Presented by Dennis Frye, Chief Historian Emeritus, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

Sunday, March 9, at 2:00 p.m., St. James United Church of Christ, 10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville VA

John Mosby's guerrilla operations behind Union lines during the Civil War are legendary. Colonel Mosby earned more notoriety in Northern newspapers than any other Confederate, including Lee, Jackson, or Stuart. Mosby's exploits made him mythical.

Mosby's Cave is part of the Mosby mythology. Legend states that the “Gray Ghost” and his rangers would disappear - simply vanish - when chased by Yankee pursuers. Where did they go? Where was the cave? Why has this hideaway remained mysterious?

We will explore Mosby's Cave . . . if we can find it.

08/30/2024

Next in the Lovettsville Historical Society's 2024 Lecture Series:

“Virginia & Slavery:
It’s More Complicated than You Think”

Presented by Nancy Spannaus
Sunday, September 8, at 2:00 p.m.
St. James United Church of Christ,
10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville VA

In her latest book Defeating Slavery: Hamilton’s American System Showed the Way, public historian Nancy Spannaus shows how the early abolitionist movement in the young American republic lost its battle, due to large part to the defeat of Alexander Hamilton’s program of industrialization. As the largest British colony, Virginia played a crucial role in every part of this process.

Chattel slavery got off to a slow start in Virginia, but by the 1770s it was already showing itself to be an economic, as well as moral, disaster. At that time, leading Virginians began to urge action to curb the practice, with writings and actions that reverberated throughout the colonies. These were to meet British royal resistance. The movement toward abolition grew in Virginia, as in other states, after the Revolutionary war, but was defeated.

The rise to power of the anti-industrial Jeffersonians in the 19th century set the course for Virginia to play its most destructive role—the sabotage of the Hamiltonian program of the 1820s. Despite the opposition of many leading Virginians (Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall is a case in point), as well as many western Virginians, the Richmond slavocracy joined with New York City financial interests to back Andrew Jackson’s campaign to kill the drive for industrialization. The success of that campaign set the stage for civil war.

02/06/2024

Incident at Griffin’s Wharf:
The Boston Tea Party and After
http://www.lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org/index.php/kicking-oOn Sunday, February 11, the Lovettsville Historical Society will present Loudoun historians Tracy and Rich Gillespie, who will explore the actions by Great Britain’s Parliament that led to the destruction of 340 chests of East India Company teas in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. They will also discuss the responses to the tea crisis in other colonies, and the reaction here at home in Loudoun.

Three of the five teas thrown overboard at Griffin’s Wharf can be sampled immediately after, with commentary about each tea’s distinct qualities and their role in Colonial America including Loudoun.

The Gillespies’ presentation will be held at St. James United Church of Christ, 10 East Broad Way, in Lovettsville, at 2:00 pm. The program will be followed, as is customary, by questions and discussion, and then by a tea tasting. ff-the-lovettsville-historical-societys-2024-lecture-series/

11/07/2023

Next lecture: Sunday, Nov. 12 "“The Botanical History of Northern Loudoun County” http://www.lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org/index.php/november-2023-lecture-series/

10/06/2023

http://www.lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org/index.php/fashioning-the-funeral/

"Fashioning the Funeral:
Mourning Wear and Customs
in Civil War America"

On Sunday, October 8, Kelly Wenner White will present an overview of Civil War-era mourning wear and customs, including topics ranging from mourning jewelry and advances in medicine to gravestones and fashion.